More Twist and Still More Pumping Measures Waiting in the Wings

The June FOMC meeting was the first in which the two new members of the board of governors (the 7-headed hydra in Washington the members of which have a permanent vote on the FOMC), Jeremy Stein and Jerome Powell took part.

It is quite funny in hindsight that the Republican Congress refused to confirm several previous candidates to these posts on the grounds that they were 'old style Keynesians' or otherwise suspected of being prone to leaning toward more easy money.

As it turns out, the two new appointments which eventually found favor with these Congressional defenders of monetary rectitude are among the board's most dovish members. This was gleaned from the projections of board members regarding the speed with which they expected monetary tightening to become necessary.

„ Both new Fed board members—Democratic economist Jeremy Stein and Republican businessman Jerome Powell—appear to be in Chairman Ben Bernanke's more dovish camp. Notably, the Fed's projections showed that an additional two board members don't expect the Fed to tighten policy until 2015.“

If Japan's experience over the past two decades is any indication, even that estimate will prove to be wide of the mark.

As was widely expected, the FOMC decided to extend its 'Operation Twist', although one wonders what for. With the 10 year treasury note yield close to all time lows, what is to be gained from this?

On the other hand it was difficult at this time to engage in more foreceful monetary pumping measures. There are political headwinds that require the Fed to come up with a very good excuse if it wants to start 'QE3'. Such an excuse would be provided by a sharp fall in the stock market, or a noticeable further deterioration in economic data.

So what is the extension of the relatively useless 'Twist' program telling us? It says: we want to print. Even if we can't go whole hog yet, we'd rather do something that is useless even from our own point of view, rather than doing nothing.

This was further buttressed by the changes in the FOMC statement and its altered economic outlook. Well-versed Kremlinologists at the WSJ have constructed a 'Fed statement tracker' that allows one to parse the FOMC statement in detail and see the changes relative to the previous statement at a glance. As can be seen, there are a number of notable differences this time around, all reflective of a downgrade of the Fed's economic forecast and hence hinting at more monetary pumping down the road.

The economic forecasts and estimates regarding the future path of policy of individual board members can be seen here (pdf).

Widely Accepted Fallacies

During the press conference, Bernanke was once again frequently asked 'why isn't the Fed doing more right away'. After all, its statement and forecast indicate that is expects no further improvement in the labor market for the rest of the year. There are no journalists at that press conference who doubt the wisdom of central planning or have the slightest suspicion that more money printing could be anything but a boon for the economy. This is the level to which the discourse on monetary matters has regrettably sunk nowadays. It is assumed as a matter of course that if only enough money were printed, the economy would surely get better.

Bernanke's replies to these questions all hinted at his willingness to do just that. We strongly suspect that among the reasons why the FOMC has not yet decided on more forceful pumping measures in the form of 'QE3' or something akin to it there is not only the current political difficulty of doing so.

There is also the fact that there is at the moment no real crisis in the US financial markets and economy. However, there is a crisis in the euro-area, and the danger that it could migrate and trigger crises elsewhere is great. So if the FOMC were to embark on 'QE3' right now, the question would then be:

How to top that if a real crisis were to strike, with the stock market crashing and interbank markets freezing up again?

Moreover, Bernanke pointed to some of the limitations faced by the Fed. For instance, 'QE2' removed a large amount of treasury bonds from the marketplace. However, it is precisely these treasury bonds that are the favored collateral in repo transactions. There is at present a 'shortage' of AAA rated assets that can be used for such transactions. Obviously, the higher rated the collateral, the smaller the haircuts and margin requirements demanded by liquidity providers. The Fed's 'QE' operations were both accompanied by big spikes in 'fails to deliver' in the treasury market. There can be no doubt the Fed is well aware of this.

There is of course something quite perverse about a financial system that requires government debt of all things to function properly, especially considering that this debt has grown to truly monstrous proportions.

The bigger the role of government in the economy, the more wealth is destroyed. A productive loan that is invested in new capital to increase production or start a new line of production with the aim of satisfying consumer wants increases wealth (leaving aside that due to the uncertain future a certain percentage of productive lending will come to grief).

A loan to government is not based on such a prospective increase in wealth to ensure payback, but on its opposite.

The government merely promises its lenders: “we will either confiscate someone's wealth to pay you back or simply print the money – or both”. Obviously neither of these methods is likely to grow society's wealth. And yet, these certificates of confiscation have become an important pillar underpinning the modern-day financial system.

The idea that the Federal Reserve can improve our economic lot by printing more money is an analogous fallacy – just as more government spending is a burden rather than a boon for the economy, so the printing of more money can not add anything to our wealth. It is the production of goods and services that increases wealth. Printing additional money tokens (or creating their electronic equivalent in cyberspace) is only apt to distort relative prices and will therefore lead to capital malinvestment. And yet, listening to Mr. Bernanke's press conference and the questions asked of him, one comes away with the impression that absolutely no-one in the financial press doubts that we can print ourselves rich.

Hawks Outnumbered

One thing the financial press has however without a doubt gotten right is that the extension of 'Operation Twist' is merely an opening gambit before additional pumping measures are announced.

“It is unlikely that the Federal Reserve's efforts to boost the economy will end with "Operation Twist."

The Fed's rate-setting committee decided Wednesday to extend its so-called Twist operations. These involve it selling short-term Treasuries and using the funds to buy long-dated ones. The goal is to bring down long-term interest rates.

The extension of Twist assuaged markets, which had expected action along those lines. But the Fed also lowered the bar for further efforts, noting in its statement that it was ready to do more to promote "a stronger economic recovery and sustained improvement in labor-market conditions." And, in projections released shortly afterward, the Fed said the central tendency of board members' year-end unemployment estimates ranged from 8% to 8.2%, versus the 7.8% to 8% they expected in April. The unemployment rate last month was 8.2%.

So, to sum it up, the Fed wants a better job market. And the Fed doesn't think that the job market is going to show much, if any, improvement through the end of the year.

Absent a turn for the better between now and the Fed's two-day meeting July 31 and Aug. 1, it looks as if more action could be in the offing. That would likely involve a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, involving outright purchases of Treasuries and, especially, mortgage-backed securities.

The hawks on the Fed will complain, and with rates at rock-bottom levels already, the efficacy of further action is indeed open to debate. But they are now more outnumbered than ever.

(emphasis added)

As to the 'hawks' at the Fed, all of them are district presidents who don't have a permanent FOMC vote. Furthermore, there are so few of them that one can count them on the fingers of one hand. They are Jeffrey Lacker (Richmond Fed), Richard Fisher (Dallas Fed), Charles Plosser (Philadelphia Fed) and to a lesser extent Nayarana Kocherlakota (Minneapolis Fed). Only Jeffrey Lacker has an FOMC vote this year, and he has been the lone dissenter in all decisions so far taken this year. With two new 'doves' added to the board of governors in Washington, it is indeed a good bet that all the grumbling of the 'hawks' will be for nought.

An important additional point worth mentioning with regards to the Fed's economic forecast is that it not only sees unemployment remaining very high, it also has lowered its 'inflation' estimates considerably (i.e., its estimates of the future increase of the 'general price level' as measured by CPI and/or PCE). This is important because it creates the intellectual wiggle room for further monetary easing. One question Bernanke fielded during the press conference was whether he wouldn't agree that 'QE2' failed to produce any of the desired effects. His reply was revealing – he essentially conceded that the results were somewhat disappointing, but asserted that it was still worth doing. The reason: it helped 'avert the danger of deflation'.

Market Reaction

Nonetheless, the financial markets were less than happy with the FOMC announcement. Both stocks and commodities, including gold have trended lower ever since, although the stock market attempted a comeback late in the day yesterday. It appears the markets had primed themselves for a 'QE3' type announcement and since that was not forthcoming, sellers merged. This is slightly mysterious to us – it should have been clear to market participants that no such announcement would be forthcoming at this particular FOMC meeting. There simply was no justification for taking such a step now and the Fed doesn't want to become the center of attention in an election year – it may well be accused of trying to influence the election, a charge it is no doubt eager to avoid (as a matter of fact, such an allegation would not have any merit anyway in our opinion, but this is beside the point).

The SPX intra-day yesterday: first elation, then disappointment, then a small comeback attempt– click chart for better resolution.

The past five trading days in gold (including the first half of today's trading) – whatever enthusiasm there was – and as we have pointed out there wasn't much to begin with – has gone out of it again. The consolidation/correction continues for now– click chart for better resolution.

Crude oil also continued to fall on very high trading volume – click chart for better resolution.

As can be seen, the markets these days only rally when there is a firm commitment to more money printing. 'Twist' influences bond yields at the long end of the curve, but it does not add to the money supply.

It is that time of the year again – our semi-annual funding drive begins today. Give us a little hand in offsetting the costs of running this blog, as advertising revenue alone is insufficient. You can help us reach our modest funding goal by donating either via paypal or bitcoin. Those of you who have made a ton of money based on some of the things we have said in these pages (we actually made a few good calls lately!), please feel free to up your donations accordingly (we are sorry if you have followed one of our bad calls. This is of course your own fault). Other than that, we can only repeat that donations to this site are apt to secure many benefits. These range from sound sleep, to children including you in their songs, to the potential of obtaining privileges in the afterlife (the latter cannot be guaranteed, but it seems highly likely). As always, we are greatly honored by your readership and hope that our special mixture of entertainment and education is adding a little value to your life!

Bitcoin address: 1DRkVzUmkGaz9xAP81us86zzxh5VMEhNke

9 Responses to “The FOMC Decision”

Fed’s Op Twist is all about helping US Treasury extend the maturity on their debt to reduce future rollover risk (such as Italy is now facing). Treasury shortened its debt duration as interest rates have fallen over past 10 years. 10 years ago there was worry in the markets that there would soon be no 30-year T-bonds available because gov’t was issuing very short-term paper. US gov’t knows it is entering high risk territory with an out of control deficit and debt load. Because of problems elsewhere (Europe) and flight to “safety” US is still able to borrow cheap. Treasury is taking advantage of low rates while they can to issue longer-term paper and lock-in favorable rates. Fed is helping by enticing investors to front run them and buy longer-term Treasuries, thereby driving US gov’t borrowing rates as low as possible. Bernanke and the Fed very much know what they’re doing, essentially preparing the ground for the coming US debt crisis. He obviously has little confidence in Congress, nor does he have the fortitude to tell them to get their act together on the debt. Instead he sucks investors (many of whom are stock market refugees) into buying long-term gov’t bonds, another investment they’ll sorely regret in the coming years.

People don’t think for themselves.
I mean otherwise intelligent self-accomplished people still don’t think clearly about these issues.
How possibly can QE be good (unless you have first/early access to the new money)… !!!

Most market participants recognize that money printing is ultimately disastrous, however bankers and speculators always get early access to the new money, as you said. So it is the ultimate moral hazard.

It is getting incredibly perverse nowadays. Because if you think about it…most people probably realize by now that the country is f*cked and the whole of Western civilization is circling the drain. So in the selfish calculation of things, some more money printing is not going to change the fact that everybody’s f*cked, but it might make you personally rich if you get levered up “risk-on” in front of it.

Perhaps rich enough to go buy a nice villa on an island tax haven with a yacht and forget about the world’s troubles. That is the classic escape plan of hated dictators and despots as well; the helicopter escape off the back lawn when the plebs overrun the front gates, often with the nation’s gold reserves in the hold.

This just goes to show there is widespread belief in witchcraft. We are going to deflate because there is very little good credit left and now that includes governments. I have recently read that oddly, the Chinese can’t get enough dollars. There are plenty of fakes and there is gold, but the contracts demand dollars. Bennie is going to fool around and go broke, as is the ECB. We are looking at a switch from bank creditworthiness to cash. Banks can’t stand on their own credit and this is the only reason for all the QE. It has only the purpose of keeping credit exchange intact and of course making it easier for the US Government to attempt inflation. You either have to believe this is enough or that the pile of chips is just too tall for the Fed to reasonably QE.

There is no question that there is a mega-liquidation of melinvestments taking place.
This of course applies to gov debt, too. Greece today, Japan tomorrow, the US the day after tomorrow (presumably).

Inflating the stock of currency, printing when other methods of inflation fail, is merely an amortized scheme repudiating debt. It is less moral than outright default becuase the loss is recognized by unsuspecting bystanders (often the weaker members of society) rather than the creditors who made the loans willingly.

I have a hard time understanding the Chinese. I don’t believe everything I read on the internet, but I think it is pretty obvious that they don’t care about the environment in their own country. If correct, why aren’t they digging up every scrap of gold in Africa, Mexico, Brazil, etc.? Who cares if it is at a dollar loss? The idea is to get physical gold.

Regarding the unraveling, I think it will be the same just about every where, and that is the price of food. I just went in this Chinese Restaurant where I hadn’t ordered in a year or two. Very average quality. The prices had gone up about 30% or more!!! And they had more patrons than ever!!! They must be charging competitive prices.

I plan to write about this Chinese ‘dollar shortage’ phenomenon soon, I’m still gathering some more intelligence on it at the moment. In one of today’s articles (to be posted later) there will be a long term chart of the yuan-dollar rate as a precursor to the discussion.

Most read in the last 20 days:

When Money Dies
In part-I of the dispatch we talked about what happened during the first two days after Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes, comprising of 88% of the monetary value of cash in circulation. In part-II, we talked about the scenes, chaos, desperation, and massive loss of productive capacity that this ban had led to over the next few days.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi – another finger-wagger, as can be seen in this...

A Market Gripped by Fear
The Indian Prime Minister announced on 8th November 2016 that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes would no longer be legal tender. Linked are Part-I, Part-II and Part-III updates on the rapidly encroaching police state.
The economic and social mess that Modi has created is unprecedented. It will go down in history as an epitome of naivety and arrogance due to Modi’s self-centered desire to increase tax-collection at any cost.
Indian jewelry...

Hidden Motives
It is well-known that India's government wants to coerce its population into “modernizing” its financial behavior and abandoning its traditions. The recent ban on large-denomination banknotes was not only meant to fight corruption.
Obviously, this very bad Indian has way too much cash. Just look at him, he looks suspicious!
Photo via thenewsminute.com
In fact, as our friend Jayant Bhandari has pointed out, fresh avenues for corruption ...

A Brief Recap
India's Prime Minister announced on 8th November 2016 that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes will no longer be legal tender. Linked are Part-I, Part-II, Part-III, and Part-IV, which provide updates on the rapidly encroaching police state
Expect a continuation of new social engineering notifications, each sabotaging wealth-creation, confiscating people’s wealth, and tyrannizing those who refuse to be a part of the herd, in the process destroying the very backbone of the...

Bad Monday
Some Monday mornings are better than others. Others are worse than some. For one Amazon employee, this past Monday morning was particularly bad.
No doubt, the poor fellow would have been better off he’d called in sick to work. Such a simple decision would have saved him from extreme agony. But, unfortunately, he showed up at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters and put on a public and painful display of madness.
Good-bye cruel world! On this our planet,...

Free Money!
BALTIMORE – Last week, the Dow punched up above 19,000 – a new all-time record. And on Monday, the Dow, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq, and the small-cap Russell 2000 each hit new all-time highs. The last time that happened was on the last day of December 1999.
Ironically, two events that were almost universally expected to trigger large stock market declines were followed by quite rapid and strong gains. Would the market have fallen if Hillary Clinton had won...

A Major Crisis
Last week Jayant Bhandari related the story of the overnight ban of certain banknotes in India under cover of “stamping out corruption” (see Gold Price Skyrockets In India after Currency Ban Part 1 and Part 2 for the details).
Banned 500 rupee banknotes
The problem is inter alia that the sudden ban of these banknotes has hit the Indian economy quite hard, given that 97% of all transactions in the country are cash-based. Not only that, it has...

Permanently Skewed
TRUMP HOTEL, New York – Trump’s rambling army – professionals, amateurs, camp followers, and profiteers – is marching south, down the I-95 corridor. There, on the banks of the Potomac, it will fight its next big battle.
Lieutenants in Trump's army: Bannon, Flynn & Sessions
Photo credit: Drew Angerer / AFP
Here at the Diary, we do not like to get involved in politics. But this is a special time in the history of our planet – a...

Stumped by the Bust
In the slump of a cycle, businesses that were thriving begin to experience difficulties or go under. They do so not because of firm-specific entrepreneurial errors but rather in tandem with whole sectors of the economy. People who were wealthy yesterday have become poor today. Factories that were busy yesterday are shut down today, and workers are out of jobs.
What has caused the bust? The modern-day economic orthodoxy continues to be unable to provide...

A Strong First Half of the Year, Followed by Another Retreat
In early 2016 gold had a big bull run. The precious metal rose close to 25% this year, pushed higher in a summer rally that peaked on July 10th. Gold experienced a bumpy ride over the remainder of the summer though, as investors became increasingly concerned about a potential rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Uncertainty returned to gold market and has intensified further since then.
Initially, gold rallied sharply...

The Trump Trade
After 35 years of waiting... so many false signals... so often deceived... so often disappointed... bond bears gathered on rooftops as though awaiting the Second Coming. Many times, investors have said to themselves, “This is it! This is the end of the Great Bull Market in Bonds!”
The long bond's long cycle – red rectangles indicate when the post 1980 bull market was held to be “over” or “over for sure” or “100% over”, etc. We have...

A Very Odd Growth Spurt in the True Money Supply
The growth rates of various “Austrian” measures of the US money supply (such as TMS-2 and money AMS) have accelerated significantly in recent months. That is quite surprising, as the Fed hasn't been engaged in QE for quite some time and year-on-year growth in commercial bank credit has actually slowed down rather than accelerating of late. The only exception to this is mortgage lending growth - at least until recently. Growth in...